Emilio Rachan

Emilio Rechan
Character Profile
Died 3028
Affiliation ComStar
Profession Precentor

Emilio Rachan (b. 29?? - d. 3028) was a rogue ComStar Precentor whose plot to find a missing Star League memory core resulted in the temporary declaration of the Gray Death Legion mercenary unit as outlaws.

Biography

Joining the Blessed Order in the thirtieth century, Rachan eventually rose to the rank of Precentor, serving as a personal aide to Primus Julian Tiepolo himself.[1]

After ROM determined near the end of the Third Succession War that the long-lost SLDF cache on the Free Worlds League planet Helm, recently assigned as the land-hold of the Gray Death Legion, was real and that it very likely also contained a Star League Memory Core, Primus Tiepolo selected Rachan to oversee efforts to eliminate the threat to ComStar's holy mission. With the Blessed Order believing the mercenaries would not be receptive to direct manipulation or bribery, Rachan was directed to engineer a minor civilian "incident" to defame the Legion and justify their removal before revealing the existence of the stockpile to the League government, the Order placing a division of the ComStar Guards and Militia on stand-by to infiltrate the League's recovery efforts to ensure the stockpile and the memory core were either destroyed or fell into ComStar's hands.[1]

Rather than approach the League government directly, Rachan opted to contact several rebellious lords in the Free Worlds League, promising them a portion of the stockpile in return for their assistance, making no mention of the existence of the library. Rachan would ultimately connect with Lord Garth of Irian, promising the greedy Garth enough 'Mechs to overthrow Captain-General Janos Marik in return for providing Rachan a position in any new government.[1]

Rachan arranged with the Gray Death member-traitor Harris Graff to allow explosives being used on the domed city of Tiantan, the capital city of Sirius V, exposing the inhabitants to Sirius V's toxic, frigid atmosphere in what became known as the Tiantan massacre that killed over 12 million people. Using BattleMechs painted to look like Gray Death 'Mechs, Rachan, in concert with Lord Garth's efforts, staged footage to make it appear as if the Legion had, under a flag of truce, destroyed the domed city. Appalled at the act, the Primus and the First Circuit ordered Rachan's immediate excommunication and extermination by ROM.[1]

Lord Garth's efforts continued the plot, which involved having the Gray Death jump to the planet Marik under the pretense of meeting with the Captain-General. Upon arrival, the Legion would instead have immediately been arrested and charged with the destruction of Tiantan. However, Gray Death commander Grayson Death Carlyle sensed that something was amiss. With the majority of the Legion's dependents and troops who had not been assigned to the two-week Sirius V campaign the Legion's landhold on Helm, Carlyle elected to move his combat troops to their base on Helm first.

Upon arrival, the Legion found itself under attack and pursued by Lord Garth's forces across several hundred miles of the planet.

Death and Legacy

In the ensuing land campaign, Rachan's quest to claim the missing Star League cache failed, the Gray Death Legion instead obtaining a copy of the memory core from the underground base on 1 April 3028. Rachan was killed in the fighting on Helm when the Star League facility self-destructed around him after his troops had forced their way in, triggering a failsafe mechanism.

Shortly after the events on Helm, ComStar disavowed all Rachan's actions. Publicly, Primus Tiepolo sent a message to the Captain-General branding Rachan a renegade operating of his own accord, also authorizing massive compensation payments to the survivors of Sirius V as a gesture of good will. Privately, however, Tiepolo was utterly appalled that Rachan had both failed to recover or destroy the memory core and that he had taken such a direct role in the affair, placing ComStar's vaunted neutrality at risk.[1]

Notes

Word of Blake interjections in the secular ComStar's historical overview of the affair insist that Rachan's only deviation from the plan as laid out by Primus Tiepolo and the First Circuit was the extent of the "incident", the Blakist writer expressing as much horror for the loss of a domed city dating back to the Star League era as the millions killed in its destruction.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 ComStar, pp. 53-54 "History of ComStar - The Tiepolo Years - Circles within Circles"

Bibliography